If George Godfrey had been allowed to take part in the elimination tournament of 1929?

It is very difficult. The idea that there was a guy good enough to win the whole thing but that he was prevented from taking part is an attractive theory. That the whole thing is bogus because Godfrey did not feature. George clearly was physically imposing, and clearly was better or at least there was a lot of scope for him being better than he was.

However, I can’t lose sight of the fact that eventual winner of the tournament was a guy good enough to beat Joe Louis. Knocked him out in fact. So it’s not like the guys selected were a bunch of phoneys.

 

Godfrey was a very dirty fighter. The convenient answer to this is often to say, he was handcuffed and fouled out because he had too, looking at the men he fouled out too however, most were not being fast tracked anywhere important anytime soon. Aside from Carnera, who always had the whiff of corruption around his career, most of his Dq’s were probably his own doing and I believe he had something like 10 of them in his day. This guy made Golota look like an angel.
His best wins are Larry Gains, and Paulino Uzcudun. He was dq’d in the Gaines rematch.
I don’t see him defeating Schmeling or Sharkey in the tournament. Sharkey has already defeated Godfrey by this point as well, in a close fight. Another fight that Godfrey is alleged to have the handcuffs on, that i just don’t by. You wouldn’t run an opponent so close if you are supposed to lose, and Sharkey was a very a talented fighter I doubt Godfrey was so good that he could outclass Sharkey to the point of runnin him close but still maintaining to just lose. In short I think it’s a myth and he simply lost to a better fighter.

 

Right on post.

It might be pointed out that Godfrey lost to Risko in 1928 and it was Risko who then fought Schmeling.

Godfrey's record definitely failed to match the hype, and losses to ordinary fighters like Jack Gross and Walter Cobb raise severe doubts about his real quality. I think he was not really into training and so stamina was a big issue with guys he couldn't blow out early.

 

And for all this talk of Godfrey and handcuffed it wasn’t like he always got the short end of the stick with deciscions, his fight with Uzcudon at Wrigley Field many fans felt Uzcudon had won. The verdict was booed. I had read it was a very close fight. So one would think if Godfrey was constantly getting the shaft a known commodity like Uzcudon would of received the nod, but he didn’t.

Ten DQ losses is a lot and I do believe it was his method to end several fights - what I don’t know is the motive- because most of these guys he lost to went nowhere with their careers- Carnera aside. Could of been poor conditioning, could of been anything.
He is an enigma.
He certainly looks imposing and for the era he was definitely denied the right to some big fights but judging off who he did fight and how he fared I see him as below a top talent of The era. Top 10 contender maybe but I don’t see him going through Risko, Sharkey and Schmeling to win the tournament at all.

 

We don't know enough about Godfrey. Boxing is filled with uneven playing fields but the black fighters had a completely different sport both on a fight by fight basis and on the sum total it took on their careers mentally and physically .. Sharkey to his credit did fight him but let's keep in mind it was in Boston, Sharkey's home town and it was supposedly a questionable decision .. How good Godfrey might have been if given a consistent fair shot is a guess but I'd say pretty damn tough as he had size, reach, strength, power and durability ..

 

Its too bad we never saw Godfrey vs Wills. Godfrey's manager tried to make the fight a few times.

I'd probably pick Godfrey over Jack Sharkey.

 

I would guess stamina may not have been his forte

 

Interesting post thanks. I agree gambling could be the primary motive if Godfrey was tanking fights, rather than the advancement of the opponents career. From the footage of Carnera and Godfrey it’s imposisble to tell if that fight is on the level or not. Might not have been, but who knows. You have a man that the press says all his fights are fixed to win fighting against a man that many believe his fights were fixed to lose. And it ends in a DQ. Strange times.
Do you have any fight reports from his bout with Sharkey. I had read them in the past but I was looking on internet and couldn’t find any today.

 

It could have been his way to tank fights .. just because many of the fighters may have ended up no where does not mean at the time they were not being pushed as commodities and Godfrey was acting as a willing participant ..

 

May have been may not have been. Impossible to know. But many of the guys he did lose to by DQ had rather pedestrian careers. I would think the more likely motive was to win by betting the underdog and then have George foul out. Who knows maybe him tanking is greatly exaggerated and he actually fouled out because he was losing. So much of myth and fact gets blurred in boxing.